Schering Sales Corp. to pay $435m in settlement

Schering Sales Corp., a division of Schering-Plough, will pay $435 million in connection with Medicaid fraud and illegal sales and marketing programs under a Jan. 17 court sentence.

A suit brought by the FDA and other agencies charged the company with making false statements to government agencies to hide its illegal off-label promotion of Temodar for use in treating brain tumors and metasteses and Intron A for use in treating superficial bladder cancer.

The suit also said Schering concealed its best price on Claritin RediTabs to avoid paying millions of dollars in additional Medicaid rebate liabilities.

The company pleaded guilty last September to criminal charges of making false statements to the FDA and to the HHSs. The company was sentenced to pay a $180 million criminal fine on those charges.

Schering pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to make false statements to the FDA in response to another inquiry by the agency.